Author: Bridget Macdonald

The exhibition opened on Saturday, 8 April at The Clayden Gallery, Quay Arts Centre, Newport Harbour, Isle of Wight and runs until 1 May.  We had a great turn out for the opening, the weather was glorious and it was a lovely occasion.  Richard Long is showing in the West Gallery at Quay Arts and his exhibition ‘Six Walks for the Isle of Wight’ opened on the same day.  I have always liked Long’s work and was interested in the Q & A session which he gave that afternoon.

Our work could not be more different, his ranging across the world and apparently making no reference to other art practice beyond his own experience of walking and interacting with the landscape; in contrast I have always referred to the art of the past and how landscape has been a subject for painting and poetic engagement over many centuries.  However, in a small way I think our exhibitions turned out to be complementary.  Molly and I focussed on a very small stretch of coastline which we know intimately.  As part of his exhibition Richard Long made a site specific wall painting of mud from the River Medina, while Molly used local clay found on the beach to glaze some of her pots.  The decorations on her pots and tiles of crows, magpies and fish were given a context in my paintings and drawings of the landscape and the sea.  And my tiny ink drawings were made from sepia ink, derived from cuttlefish (although I must admit not from local ones).

Molly and I are pleased with our collaboration, the first but maybe not the last.

16 April 2017

Today I went to Wolverhampton Art Gallery to see their small exhibition ‘Art and Writing’, which includes my 1990 drawing Rosmersholm.  This was acquired by WAG in 1991 and is based on the play of the same name by Ibsen.  I was interested to see the work again and pleased to find it in good company, alongside etchings by Ana Maria Pacheco and Paula Rego.

The charcoal drawing dates from a phase when I worked more closely from literary sources than I do at the moment.  I was also at that time very interested in the figure and in suggesting psychological tensions between figures, without resorting to direct illustration of the text.

The exhibition runs until February 5th and precedes a literary festival in the city.

I also had the chance for a second look at Rosemary Terry’s exhibition ‘The Projected Kitchen’, which runs until February 12th.  This is an installation of sculptures carved in wood, which takes every day kitchen objects and plays with ideas of scale, and two and three dimensionality.  It is a beautiful, quiet and contemplative show.  Rosemary is an old friend from my ten years at the Eagle Works in Wolverhampton, a well known group studio situated in a 19th century factory building, which has been going strong for over 30 years.

So, a worthwhile trip and it was nice to be back in Wolves again.

26th January, 2017